Mar'i
by celticBRIDE
Summary: Everyone loves Mar'i Grayson. The Titans, the Batfamily, the League, everyone.
1. Dick: Part 1

When she was born, no one knew how human she would be. There had never been an Earthling/Tameranian mix before. No one knew what to expect. The labor had been intense and it was almost a full day before she decided to join the world. Dick had been a nervous wreck, pacing the halls and checking in periodically. He hadn't been allowed to stay in the room. He wanted to sit with Star and hold her hand, to be there with her through the pain, but she was too afraid she'd hurt him by accident. Her powers seemed to be on flux. She had curled her hands around the steel bed frame and it snapped like a twig in her hands. He'd tried to just stay to the side and comfort her, but when she let out a laser beam during a particularly strong contraction she banished him from the room altogether. No non-supers were allowed in the vicinity. They were just lucky that watchtower had a number of "resilient" medical professionals to spare.

It was only once the deed was done that Dick was allowed back in. It had been hours since he'd seen Star. The sight of her looking so tired, so weak, had him rushing to her side but she gave him a small smile that told him she was ok. Such a small smile compared to her usual hundred-megawatt grin, yet it somehow seemed even more blindingly brilliant. Those eyes. God, he loved those eyes. It took a moment for him to catch his breath. And then he looked down.

She was so tiny. That was his first thought. All this fuss and worry over such a little thing. The next thought was how human she was. Star was gorgeous, a knock-out by anyone's standards, but in a way that openly announced her alien-ness. Her hair was fire (sometimes literal fire), her skin was living gold, those eyes… But this new baby looked completely human. A head full of his own black hair brushing a forehead of skin that, while noticeably darker than his own, seemed a perfectly natural tan tone. He couldn't really say whom her features took after. To be honest, he thought _all_ babies really just looked like babies. If they hadn't just been through nineteen and a half hours of labor, he'd almost think she hadn't come from Star. Then she opened her eyes. Those big green emerald, inhumanly beautiful eyes he was so familiar with. And just like when he'd seen them the first time, so many years ago, he fell in love.

"Hello Mar'i"


	2. Bruce

When she was a few months old (and Star was a little less paranoid) Dick and Star brought Mar'i to Wayne Manor for a visit. They had called ahead and of course Alfred had set himself to prepare the nicest guest room, purchase a myriad of gifts, and baby-proof the entire mansion. They were hardly through the door before he insisted on taking Mar'i from Dick's arms so the parents could rest. Nevermind that they were not the least jet-lagged or out of sorts, but they let him have his excuses and left him to coo over her while they went to greet Bruce.

Despite the whirlwind of Alfred's preparations, Bruce had stayed content to keep to his work in the cave. He _had_ been aware enough to come upstairs when he heard the bell though. He wasn't quick enough to meet them at the door, but they ran into each other on the stairs.

"Bruce." That was enough of a greeting for Dick. His voice was warm, as was his smile. It had been a while since the cave had seen that type of warmth. Despite his "grumpiness" he had missed it.

"Dick. Koria'nder." It was good to see them. Then he was surrounded by a mass of red hair as he was crushed by golden arms.

"Bruce, it is lovely to see you! I hope you have been well. Dick was telling me about-" She might have gone on like that if her husband hadn't stepped in and laughingly pulled her back.

"Star, Honey, Bruce isn't really a hugger." She smiled and apologized and they made their way upstairs to the foyer. Right. He sometimes forgot how touchy she could be, her social norms always a bit out of sync. His protégé had married an alien. Bruce had no problems with this. She was a lovely person from what he could tell, and complimented Dick nicely. It was still strange though. And now to have a half alien child. But he was happy for Dick. He had made a life for himself. And apparently a strange little family.

They chatted amicably for a while before Alfred returned with the sleeping child. She certainly looked human. But then, so did Clark and look at what he could do. Who knew if this infant would inherit her mother's powers. How would Dick go about raising a child like that? He would have his hands full.

"Do you want to hold her, Sir?" Alfred came over to hand him the bundle. He gently shook his hands in the negative, though.

"That's alright. She's comfortable where she is." The conversation went on.

Later that night, as he was on his way to the gym at the back of the house, Bruce saw Koria'nder walking the floor as she breastfed. He quickly diverted his glance away from her open shirt, but before he did, he caught a glimpse of the child's bright alien green eyes watching him. So she didn't look quite as human as he had thought.

Several times over the next few days, he was offered the baby to hold, but declined. While the rest ooh'ed and ahh'ed over her (Alfred was delighted by her every move), Bruce continued to work. Crime wouldn't stop just because there was a baby in the house. He _did_ make time for a meal with everyone at least once a day. It was nice. It was almost like old times, with Dick's constant banter and Alfred keeping everyone fed and on task. At moments, if he was caught up in nostalgia, the sight of red hair in his periphery almost made him think it was Barbara at the other end of the table. Then he'd notice it wasn't. And the whole thing would feel a bit strange again.

On the fourth night of their stay, Bruce was toiling away at the computer trying to find a connection between an underground crime ring and a local business when he heard the baby crying. He let it be for a moment before remembering that her parents were out. Dick had finally convinced Koria'nder that Mar'i would be fine for one night and that a romantic evening would be good for them. He thought Alfred would take care of it, but the wailing grew louder by the moment and for a split second he thought she might set off the cave's security system. So he went to investigate. It seemed she'd been left in her downstairs crib (there was the stationary one in the guest room upstairs and a portable one that had been moved around the first floor) in the room right outside the cave entryway. There was no sign of Alfred. That was a bit worrying.

As he approached, he peered in and found her squirming and waving her arms about frantically. Her mother insisted that there were different types of crying that meant different things. She always seemed to know exactly what each sound meant. To Bruce, it all just seemed like noise. It didn't smell like she needed to be changed. She might have been hungry, but Alfred had been sticking to Koria'nder's timely schedule and routine. He didn't _think_ she had missed a feeding, and he really hoped it wouldn't be on him. He hadn't been there when Dick had explained how to prepare the formula. The crying was growing louder, so he instinctively went to pick her up.

She was so tiny. That shouldn't have been surprising. She was a baby. He had held babies before. She was also very warm. That was new. Her eyes opened to watch him as he rocked her gently in his arms and he hesitated with his hand hovering over her, about to check her for a fever. Those eyes were so bright. Unnaturally bright. But she frowned up at him and started fussing again as more tears streamed down her chubby little cheeks. She suddenly seemed so fragile in his arms, this vulnerable little thing, looking to him for help. What if she really was sick? What if she was hurt? Could a human doctor even help her? He felt her forehead. She did feel much too warm to him. He brushed her silky little tufts of black hair out of her face and wiped her tears away with the pad of his thumb. Maybe he should take her downstairs and run a diagnostic on her. But what if that wasn't healthy for her? He didn't know what her alien physiology could handle, let alone that she was an infant. Her immune system wasn't fully developed. No, he would have to take her to a doctor. Someone from Watchtower. But who was best equipped to handle this particular case? J'onn?

Wrapped up in his thoughts for a few minutes, he barely noticed that she had quieted down in his arms. In fact she had stopped crying almost as soon as he started walking the floor. He had rested his free hand on her stomach as he was thinking. Now she had taken hold of it and was playing with his fingers in apparent fascination. When she brought one to her mouth, it caught his attention enough to look down again. Their eyes caught. She watched him watch her as she continued gumming at his knuckle. Then there was a voice from the other side of the room.

"You see Darling, Grandpa _does_ like you." Dick walked into the room wearing what looked like a smug smile.

"She has a fever. We should take her to Watchtower. Or call J'onn down." The smile grew bigger.

"She just runs hot. Like her mother. It's fine." He passed them and went to sit on the couch, apparently in no rush to reclaim his daughter. So Bruce just continued to rock her. And she continued to drool all over his hand. She seemed fine. He watched her and let out a sigh of relief. "She was just lonely. That's her 'I want attention' cry. She's been doing it a lot the last couple of days. She was afraid her grandpa didn't want to spend time with her."

Grandpa. That sounded so weird. On paper Dick was his son. He had legally adopted him years ago. And this was Dick's child. He hadn't really thought of her as anything else. Dick's new wife. Dick's alien child. Dick's family. He was happy for him. It was only now as he watched those bright little green eyes watch him back that he really thought about it and it occurred to him. _This is my family too. This is Mar'i Grayson. This is my granddaughter._

When the group left about a week later, Bruce demanded that they bring Mar'i to visit again soon.


	3. Dick: Part 2

When she was old enough to no longer be breastfeeding and not need as much constant care, Dick and Star slowly got back into heroing. They took turns, always leaving someone at home working on the technical side of things, while watching Mar'i around the house. On one of these days Dick found himself reading over some detailed archives while a three year old Mar'i toddled about, occasionally calling to him about one thing or another.

"Daddy, look! Horsie jump over the moon!"

"Daddy! Want cookie!"

"Daddy! Supaman on tv!"

She was adorable. It sometimes made it hard to work,when all he wanted to do was watch her play. Star apparently had the same problem on her days. They just had to work through it. She would be just as adorable after he had finished touching up the League's files, and the work would be done, and everybody would be better off. So he tried to tune her out just enough to focus on his work. (Of course he was still listening to make sure she was behaving and not in danger)

She didn't seem bothered by his occasional lack of response. Mar'i was very good at entertaining herself. She had her mother's boundless energy and sunny disposition. As soon as she had learned to walk she had taken to running about gallantly, giggling with her arms thrown wide to feel the wind until she eventually crashed into the couch. Or the wall. Or the coffee table. They had had to Mar'i-proof the whole house with cushions for a few weeks there, until she finally learned to settle down a bit. At the moment, she sat happily bouncing in place on the couch as the tv went on about one of Superman's latest feats. She had met Superman before. He had played with her last time they had gone to visit Grandpa Bruce. She had been immediately taken with him, and now loved watching him on television. When she got _really_ happy she tended to bounce a lot. Enough that Dick could hear it squeaking from the other room.

"Mar'i, don't bounce too much. You'll hurt the couch. Or yourself." Being three, she wasn't big on listening. She tried to bounce a bit quieter though, and took it as a success when he didn't say anything again. A few minutes later she tried bouncing a little harder to see if he noticed. Then she decided to make a game out of it. She bounced a little harder, a little at a time, sometimes doing a really big bounce then sticking to small ones. She was grinning harder and and harder as the bouncing became jumping and she managed to get a little higher each time without being caught. Sometimes she barely seemed to even touch the cushions. Then she really didn't.

"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy! Lookie what I can do!" It took Dick a second to save what he was working on. Then he rushed into the room to see what the fuss was, only to not find his daughter anywhere in sight.

"Mar'i? Baby?" Then he heard a giggle from above his head and looked up. She was standing on top of the doorway. "Mar'i! What are you doing up there?!" He panicked and reached up to grab her, then had a mini heart attack when she jumped out into the air. He leapt to catch her, but she never came down. She stayed there suspended in place above his head, grinning at him.

"Daddy, lookie me fly!" She waved her arms at her sides and glided forward. She seemed to swim through the air, moving in a somewhat crooked formation from place to place. When she ended up hanging upside down, he decided that was enough and quickly scooped her into his arms before she could fall.

"When did this happen, Baby? Just now?"

"Yup! I jumped and I didn't go down! Isn't that cool?! I can fly like Mommy!"

He smiled at that. He was going to have to call Star. She would be delighted. They would need to work on her flight training to see how stable the ability was and how far she could go. They'd need to set up safety measures. Maybe some nets... Well that certainly brought him back to his own childhood. He remembered running around, trying out new acrobatics all over the circus, while his parents yelled at him to stay over the safety nets. They had eventually taken to setting them up all over the place when he refused to listen. Then a new thought hit him and he smiled even more, hugging Mari tight, before launching into a tickle fight as she shrieked joyously. Now they had a real "Flying Grayson" in the family.


	4. Raven

Starfire had had a rough pregnancy. Mar'i had been very active in the womb, kicking and wiggling and announcing her presence. She really did take after her mother in that respect. Even before she she was born, she'd always had that exuberant energy. Raven could only imagine what _Starfire's_ mother had gone through when pregnant, having a _full_ Tamaranian child. Not that Starfire hadn't loved her pregnancy. She was often in pain while playing kicking bag to her developing daughter, but every episode ended with her happily rubbing her extending belly, often exclaiming how well Mar'i was growing. Even with tears of pain on her face sometimes, the smile was always bright and honest. It was beautiful. But it also kept Raven worried and on edge for months. She knew how easily things could go wrong.

The birth had been even worse. There were complications and it took almost a full day. A full day in which Starfire struggled to let her daughter out and keep herself contained. Her powers had gone into flux. The room was nearly destroyed. Dick hadn't even been able to stay. It was too dangerous. They were so lucky that the league included several medical professionals. Raven thanked the powers that be that there were doctors in the world who had the circumstances to become super heroes. She couldn't have handled that day without them. She had been present, both for her friend, and as a stand-by protective measure. She kept the collateral damage contained. As much as she could. But watching Starfire lose control, watching her friend writhe in pain as her powers destroyed the area around her and she struggled with everything in her to let her body do what it needed to, to safely let her daughter into the world? It had been hard. That loss of control. It reminded her too much of her own tenuous grasp. Of what her own loss of control could unleash. What it had once unleashed, when she was young and afraid.

She had kept herself in control though. For hours she stood vigilant as her powers held the room strongly protected and her best friend fought for her baby. And when it was done, they had something beautiful. Starfire and Dick sat together and wondered at the new life they had created. Raven, collapsed in the chair in the corner, had watched on, Gar joining her as the new little family sat in a world of their own. It was peaceful, and joyous, and just beautiful.

Mar'i was a treasure. She looked so much like her father, except for those shining emerald eyes. She had her father's power of concentration, focusing on an item or task until she had mastered it, with nothing able to distract her. When Gar had gifted her a stuffed lion she had run her tiny hands over every inch of it and played with how she could balance and move it for nearly an hour before she would allow him to take it back and have it roar in her face. At which point she was delighted and roared back. Needless to say, Mar'i and Garfield were great play buddies. Dick had laughingly told her about how intensely focused Mar'i was when breastfeeding. The first few months she always breastfed with an intensely serious look on her face that both parents found hilarious. But she also took after her mother. She had Star's boundless energy, sweet temperament, and joy of exploration. In other words, she was a handful. An exuberant, delightful, darling little handful.

Raven was her main babysitter when her parents had to go on missions, or needed couple time. Some found this a bit odd, but Raven had experience caring for children, even super children, and her powers were still one of the best for protection. And she took great joy in watching Mar'i. So did Garfield. So much that he had recently suggested (gently and offhandedly, really just introduced the idea of) having their own. It was an idea she didn't know what to do with. But she would watch Starfire and Dick and Mar'i. The struggles, and the joys, and the fulfillment. She could have that.

But as wonderful as Mar'i was, Raven still had nightmares sometimes about the day she was born. She remembered watching Starfire. Watching her fall apart. Watching her lose control. It could have gone so wrong. If she hadn't been strong enough, if it had taken much longer, she might have died. They both could have. Starfire and Mar'i. If Raven hadn't been able to hold onto her _own_ control, to keep her emotions in check, things could have been worse. She had barely held it together, and she wasn't even the mother. _Star_ had barely held herself together, needing special sun treatments afterwards to get her cell energy up enough to recover. Star was unbothered, said it was just part of being Tameranian, but it still kept Raven up at night sometimes. If that were her, if she had lost control…

At that moment Mar'i decided to jump off the back of the couch and almost crashed into the lamp on the end table. Raven immediately wrapped her in black energy, freezing her in midair, and summoned her over to float in front of her, body still mid jumping motion. She arched her brow at the toddler who looked put out for just a moment before smiling bashfully.

"Sorry Raven…" Raven kept her there for a few more seconds, then melted into an amused smile and released her. She remained floating, using her own developing power, before teetering and falling gently onto her feet.

"Still working on the flight?"

"Yup." she nodded enthusiastically, floating back up a few inches as she did, cycling her legs and waving her arms. Then she dropped down again. Raven's smile widened a bit.

"Does that help?"

"I saw it in a cartoon. You go off a cliff, then you do this-" she waved her arms in circles at her sides, "and you float and go back, and the guy chasing you goes off the cliff and he falls and then there's this hole that looks like them in the floor." She said it so earnestly. Raven wiped off her smile as if this was a very serious conversation.

"Ah. I see. Is someone chasing you?" She looked over her shoulder as if searching for someone.

"Well-" She was cut off as Gar suddenly jumped into the living room.

"Yes!" He proclaimed as he transformed into a large dog and tackled the child. Raven sighed. Her husband had apparently arrived home without her noticing. He playfully growled as he wrestled with the squealing toddler, rolling on the floor, pushing at each other and making a mess of Mar'i's hair. It was a shame. They had just braided it too. She settled down on the couch again to wait until they were done.

It was rough play, but if you watched, Gar was always incredibly careful. They never got too close to any furniture. His rolls always balanced so that Mar'i never knocked her head on the ground and when it was close, he made sure to have a soft paw under her head. He pushed his big dog head into her, but always held back just enough so she could struggle to push him back, but it never hurt. He would sometimes fein at biting, but he never really did, nipping her with a soft jaw at most. It was a game they played a lot. Cub training, Gar had explained to her. Like big cats teaching their young how to fight. Mar'i loved it.

He was always like that. Rough, but careful. Their relationship was the same. When they started dating, when they fought, when they got married. He always pushed her, challenged her to come out of her shell, out of her head, but he was always careful. Careful of her feelings, of her limits, of her boundaries. Her drove her crazy sometimes, ( _often_ really, when they were first dating) but he made her more herself. He made her communicate, made her learn how to work through her issues instead of locking herself away in her mind. She loved him for it. He was so solid. A focal point when she would have otherwise gotten lost in the storm of her thoughts. He would make an amazing father.

But could she be a mother? That was another matter entirely. She had been a guardian. She'd watched over Melvin, Timmy and Teether over the years, watched them grow. It was wonderful, and she loved them, but it wasn't the same. They were "her kids" but not her children. Watching Mar'i, talking to Starfire and Dick about it, it was something different. When it's your child. When you're "Mommy" and "Daddy" and this new little life is yours to nurture and grow into into their own person. Not that it was about genetics. It was the same with adoption. Just knowing that this is your child. Not someone you're watching for a while, not someone temporary, but yours. Watching them grow, forming them, growing with them. _Living_ it. It was different.

The match seemed to be over. Gar stood up, changing back to his own form and tucking a breathless giggling Mar'i under one arm. He smiled at her and stepped forward. She got up and moved towards him too, tilting her head up to look him in the eye. He had gotten notably taller than her over the years. She remembered when they were teens and she would tease him with a side eye from her slightly higher vantage. Now he teased her for being the shortie among the ranks. She always _was_ petite.

He put his free hand on her waist and drew her in. "Hey, Mama. How you doing down there?" She rolled her eyes but smiled. He was such a dork. He leaned down to kiss her and she brought her hands up gently to his face to hold him there. He felt so good. It didn't last long though. Mar'i caught her breath again and startled wiggling in Gar's hold.

"Lemme go! Lemme go!" she squealed happily kicking her feet. Gar drew back and met Raven's eyes, grinning.

"What do you think, Rae? Should I let her go? Or should I keep her prisoner and use her for my evil schemes?"

She kept a stoic face and tapped her chin to demonstrate that she was considering the options. "Hmmm, she could make a good bargaining chip. We could make Nightwing do our dirty work in exchange for her safe return."

"I'll escape!" she declared confidently, and Gar hiked her up closer to his body.

"That's true." he said thoughtfully. "She's very tricky. And now she's learning to fly. It might be hard to keep her."

"But we could brainwash her to do our bidding. Make her a double agent and then give her back to Nightwing and Starfire as a spy."

"Nooooo!" She kicked harder and laughed. "I'm gonna be a good guy! Like Superman!" She really was enthralled with Superman lately. Raven and Garfeild both gasped dramatically.

"We can't go up against someone like that! You better let her go, Gar." He did, gently putting her down, where she promplty faced them and put her hands on her hips. puffing up her chest and sticking out her chin proudly. It was her "super" stance. She held it for all of 5 seconds before breaking character and grinning manically as she bounced in place.

"Mommy said Superman was coming to visit next week. He wants to see how I fly. Since he flies different from Mommy. And Mommy flies different from you guys. And Daddy can't really fly but he jumps a lot and it's close." She was pretty much climbing Garfield by this point. "Hey Gar, can you fly in different ways? Or is it always like a bird? Can you fly like a helicopter?" She rambled on like that for a while, climbing all over Garfield like a jungle gym and swinging from his extended arms like monkey bars until he grabbed her and settled on the couch holding her in his lap. She really never did stay still for long.

They managed though. She kept talking as Garfield rebraided her hair and as Raven took her to change into her pajamas. She tried to continue, as she brushed her teeth, but relented when Raven told her it was rude. She was calming down, recognizing that it was time for bed, but still bounced slightly as she walked with Raven to the guest room. Only once she was tucked snuggly into bed with her stuffed lion did she seem to settle. She asked for Raven to read to her, as she often did, and smiled sweetly as Raven recited poetry for her, gradually slipping into sleep.

When her breathing was steady, Raven sent the book back to the shelf as she gently removed the child's hand from where it gripped her shirt. She tucked the little hand under the blankets and for a moment just watched her sleep. With a kiss on the forehead she got up to leave, but not before hearing a tired little mumble.

"Mommy…"

 _I could have this._ She thought it and looked to the doorway where her husband leaned against the frame smiling at her. _I want this._


	5. Jason

When Jason first saw her she was falling from the sky. It was just as strange as one would imagine. It was early evening and he was just ducking out of a window, information acquirement successful, getting ready to hit his next target, when he saw a small body falling past the windows of the skyscraper across the street. Hundreds of feet from the ground.

His body went into autopilot, making a mad dash and jump into the open air to catch them. _What the hell_ \- His mind didn't even have time to finish the thought "world has kids thrown out of windows" before he got his next big shock. A few feet before they would have collided, the kid changed direction and was suddenly zipping out horizontally before stopping in mid air. He let out a line and caught himself to grapple against the side of the building. It was times like this that he was glad for the full coverage the hood gave him. He was sure his face must look dumb as f*** as he hung there staring.

"Ooooookay…" he said to himself. So, not falling. Flying. These things happened. _I guess._ His mind was vaguely trying to categorize the kid –mutant, alien, experiment, magic- when she glanced over her shoulder at him. Those eyes. Oh.

Starfire's daughter. Mar'i. Star had sent him plenty of pictures of her when she was a baby. As busy as he kept himself over the years, he still kept in touch with Star and Roy. Enough to know both were happy parents now, if not well enough to have actually met the kids. He wasn't really invited to Batfamily socials, but he knew Starfire was on a mission in Europe. So Dick must be in town. And judging by the way his daughter was floating alone high above traffic and looking very lost, he must be having a conniption fit about now. He didn't have time to work on hacking his way onto the Bat comm line to alert him, because she suddenly took off floating her way uptown.

"Hey kid!" He took after her, jumping up onto the closest ledge and shooting off a line to swing across the street, where he hit another ledge running. She glanced back at him, but didn't say anything and made another turn down a side street. When he made it around the corner, it took him a second to notice her ducking behind a gargoyle. Great. He was chasing a lost kid who didn't know him. Stranger Danger much? And it wouldn't it just be even more creeper of him to try to convince the kid he knew her parents and she should come with him? Agh. "Listen kid I'm not gonna hurt you." Yeah. That was sure convincing.

He decided to take off the hood. A blank red face talking at her probably wasn't very friendly. His domino mask would do well enough in case of civilians watching, but having his face on display might put her more at ease. She watched him and her face seemed to settle a bit as she took him in. She didn't look scared. But she didn't look ready to talk to him either.

"You're Mar'i right? Starfire's girl. I used to work with your mom." She didn't answer. He sighed. Well, yeah, he expected about that much. He took the opportunity to fiddle with the comm link to try and get her dad on the line. Barb may have shut him out of the system, but she never made it _too_ hard for him to make his way in. Just in case of emergency. Usually that was if there was a situation dangerous enough that he would suck it up and call for back up, but he figured finding Dick's missing daughter probably counted. It was a weird relationship. Of course that's when the kid decided to slip away again.

"Goddamnit." he mumbled and hooked the hood to his belt as he went after her again. She ascended above the buildings and looked around her again before landing gently on a construction crane working on a high rise. Damn, that was a terrifying image. A small child balancing on a beam hundreds of feet above the city. With no safety line or tether. He knew she could fly, but if anyone looked up and noticed her they'd have a f***ing heart attack. For a second he was feeling pretty close to it himself. He reminded himself to breathe. She looked over at him again before jumping out into the air. F***. She had to stop doing that. He wondered how Dick dealt with this all the time.

He jumped over to her and she looked annoyed before flying further down. Thank the gods. She was about to take a turn towards the city center, and he ran out to get in her way. He was about to yell to her to stay away from the business sector. Who knew what commotion she might cause. Again she looked annoyed and made a U-turn heading downtown before he could say anything. Well, that was probably the direction she should be going anyway. Bruce's place was that way, which was probably where she was staying. That's when the idea struck him. The kid wasn't scared of him, but she seemed to be playing dodge with him. He could work with that. If the kid wouldn't stay put long enough for him to call Daddy to come get her, he would have to shepard her home.

It worked easy enough for a few blocks, before she found another construction site and decided to play hide and seek. She soared in between shifting mechanics and ducked under swinging beams always keeping right out of reach and giving herself more of a lead with each tiny space she fit through. This mixed with the steadily oncoming twilight bleeding with her dark hair made it harder and harder to keep tabs on her. He tried to keep ahead of her by taking alternative courses, and honestly it helped that she was a kid. Flying, and hero parentage aside, she was still somewhat predictable. Plus he'd been there himself. He remembered his own childhood forays in the city, running from cops and competition on the street. He knew the tricks. Using your smaller size to slip through where other couldn't, taking quick turns and pauses once out of sight to throw pursuers off, feigning and switching. He also remembered the thrill of it, even when things got hot. _The adrenaline. The rush._ He heard a manic little laugh from above and caught a glimpse of bright glowing green eyes fly overhead and disappear around another turn. _The joy._

He grinned as he landed in front of her and cut her off before she could slip down the scaffolding. She shrieked another little laugh and took off further downtown again. It was almost full dark by now. Her flowing black hair bled with the sky. He wouldn't have been able to see her, if not for those eyes. They glowed and sparked like little green stars in the night. She kept peeking back at him, and in the glow of her eyes he could see her grinning back at him, manic and utterly adorable with the little gap where she must have recently lost a baby tooth.

When they hit the edge of the city proper she seemed to understand what he had done. She glanced around her and suddenly knew where she was and where they were headed. He kept a motorbike stashed away on the outskirts of town. It was on already there for him when they hit the road out of town. He had hit the auto command for it when they got close enough. At that point it was no longer really a chase. More of a race. She soared off directly down the road towards Wayne Manor. It was even darker out here without the city lights. But even if he hadn't known every bit neck of these roads, he could still follow the glowing little Night Star zooming over the trees. He almost felt like a sailor, following the North Star. Ha.

He let her land first. Even if the game was over, he didn't want to risk her turning around if he cut her off. He kicked the lock to keep the bike upright and folded his arms at her, giving her an amused smirk. "I told ya, kid. I know your parents."

She put her hand on her hips and tilted her head to the side in a stance that was very Starfire when she got pouty. "I know! But Grandpa Bruce said I'm not supposed to talk to you." The fact that she was talking to him right now didn't seem to bother her. He couldn't help but be bemused. And a little taken aback.

"You knew who I was this whole time? Wait- what? Why?"

"Grandpa said you're a bad ifflunece." Great. Of course. He rolled his eyes, but also couldn't help but smile a bit. Flying around alone throughout the city. Fine. Playing keep away through active construction zones. Fine. But saying "I know who you are. Can you call my dad?" Can't do that. Grandpa said no. Child logic. Gotta love it. The adorable mispronunciation was a nice cherry on the sundae of the whole weird night.

"Alfred must have caught us on the security cams by now. Someone is probably racing out here to claim you right now." Speak of the devil. Just then they heard the front door open and running footsteps. Someone called her name. "Aaaand that's my cue. Gotta run kid. Try not to give your dad a heart attack will ya? No crossing the street without an adult." He put the red hood back on and started up the bike again. He was pulling away from the gates the she called back to him.

"Bye Uncle Jay!" He grinned and gave her a wave as he took off.

"See ya around little Nightstar."


End file.
